A Charter School Tale (fictional prediction)

Introduction: The Joneses are a fictional poor inner city African American family with two 17 year old daughters (Mary and Sarah) and a 10 year old named Johnny. Mary and Sarah are in the 12th grade and have been attending Broden School (a Charter school) since the 8th grade when they were pulled out of Archers Academy (another Charter school). Before the 6th grade they were forced by the government to attend Hillslane public school.

When Mary and Sarah were in the 5th grade their State Legislature (and/or Congress) passed the Charter School Act, a law which gave parents control of the money that was being spent on their children at their closest public school. So, if a public school was spending $10,000 per pupil, per year, then the parents of that child could use the $10,000 to keep their kid at his/her current public school or spend it on any other school they wish. They can only spend this money on the education of their children and don't have access to the account; they just dictate to an Administrator which school receives the money. Any money unspent is returned to the government as general revenue. The current public schools retain their full funding as long as parents choose to continue their children's education there. There is no accreditation needed to open a Charter school. Charter schools may be registered as nonprofit (like the public schools), or for-profit. There is no limit on the number of students that may be accepted to any one Charter school, no limit on the amount of profit a Charter school can make, and no conditions on how they spend their money. Charter schools have full discretion to pay their teachers whatever salary they wish and free reign to hire and fire whoever they wish, regardless of background or qualification. Charter schools that falsely advertise or mislead parents about any aspect of their school, from the qualifications of their teaching staff to the test scores of their students, will be considered in breach of contract and can be sued by the parents and/or prosecuted by the state in a court of law. To prevent fraud and abuse, a parent who homeschools cannot qualify as a Charter school. All private schools are reclassified as Charter schools and may receive the maximum per child funding. So a Private/Charter school that charged $20,000/year tuition would receive the regular $10k from that child's government account and then the parents would continue to pay the remaining $10k out of pocket.

Johnny just graduated from a Charter elementary school and Mr. and Mrs. Jones are having a discussion over where to send him to school next year and their thoughts keep drifting back to how things used to be.

"Here it is, this is what I was telling you about," Mrs. Jones said triumphantly. She handed her husband the article by Consumer Report on the top Charter school corporations.

"See, Garner's School of Excellence, is one of the highest rated for math and science, and those are the subjects Johnny says he likes."

Mr. Jones frowned as he glanced at the rankings, "Well, they aren't that highly ranked, St. Marks, Roman Academy, Stratford Prep, and a few others are ranked higher."

Without missing a beat Mrs. Jones replied her matter-of-fact know it all tone, "You know those are all out of state schools and we already decided we weren't going to send Johnny to a boarding school. Garner's School of Excellence has a branch just across the county line, so they can come pick him up. Moreover, I just talked to the principle this morning. She was so friendly and helpful. They have a whole slew of programs there that emphasis hands on learning; you should see the pictures of their science and biology labs on their website. They even have a program for the 10th through 12th grade where they visit the labs at the state university and use some of the advanced equipment there."

Mr. Jones and his wife rarely had arguments, but when they did he nearly always lost. "Honey", he whined, "Why can't we just keep the kids together at the same school? Mary and Sarah are doing so well at Broden School."

"There's no rule saying the kids have to go to the same school. Besides, the girls switched out of Archers Academy nearly 5 years ago in the 8th grade. Garner's School of Excellence had just opened and we didn't know what it was going to be like. I've heard great things about it from the Carpenters and, you know the Smiths down at the corner? They told me Garner's was just great for their daughter - she can even call her teacher with homework questions at night. And the kids would only be at Broden together for a few months anyway, the girls will both be graduating soon." Mr. Jones was glad the girls had gotten out of Archers Academy. The teachers seemed nice enough and the girls enjoyed it, but then a scandal hit and some of the administrators were fired for inflating test scores. When it was exposed that, despite Archers stated policies, two newly hired teachers had criminal records, it was the last straw and the Joneses had pulled their daughters out. He remembered the Archer's Academy principle/owner pleading with him, the guy probably just didn't want to loose his 20 grand. He chuckled, the guy lost a lot more then that, about a quarter of the school's pupils left and Archers hasn't yet built back up to what it once was. They even had to let some teachers go. In fact, that reminded him,

"Honey, what about Hillslane, the old public school, I heard Steve Rangart is head of their science department. Remember Steve, he was the whiz teacher at Archers who got all those awards and then left because Hillslane upped his contract. I bet Johnny would love him."

Mrs. Jones still had bad feelings towards Hillslane. The oldest, and once the only, school in the district, Hillslane had fought the switch to giving parents control of their own tax money tooth and nail. The teachers Unions in particular had been particularly vicious, railing against the idea that parents could choose where they spent the 10k/year that it was already costing taxpayers to send their kids to Hillslane public school. The school was administered by a bloated bureaucracy, many making over 100K and 200K a year, and the school was subject to Federal controls from Washington politicians and influenced by the powerful National Education Association. All of these forces spent millions across the country lobbying politicians, spreading false advertising, and generally fear-mongering the population, in order to keep the status quo and keep their monopoly on public funds. The national media wrote Editorials opposing the bill, advocacy groups and 'non-partisan' Think Tanks falsely claimed children's education would suffer, and opposition politicians decried the bill's proponents as 'cruel', 'cold hearted' and even 'racist'. Hillslane was located in a high crime area, in the inner city, and consistently had among the lowest test scores in the state and, indeed, the nation, despite spending that was almost the highest per pupil in the country! Mrs. Jones tried everything to get her daughters out of the school, but since she and her husband were poor they couldn't afford private school and couldn't afford to move. Even when the Unions lost a battle and the Voucher Act was written into law, giving $2000 dollars to each family for education spending, it still wasn't enough to get their daughters out of the failing Hillslane public school.

Mrs. Jones war particularly angry because during these legislative battles the NAACP and other liberal African American political groups lobbied against the bill. Being black, her and her husband had generally supported these groups in the past, but after this outrage they disavowed them. They would support them no longer, not when they acted against their children's education.

Mrs. Jones remembered how the principle of Hillslane had blown her off when she complained about a teacher who Mary told her always gave her science class meaningless assignments and then surfed the Internet. "I'll take care of it," he told her. When nothing changed she complained again the next week. This time he got angry, "Look lady, I talked to her. What else do you want me to do? I can't fire these people. Your daughter only has a few weeks left in class, so don't worry about it."

What a difference a year made! After passage of the Charter School Act, which stated that parents have a right to spend, at any school of their choice, the money that is already being spent on their kids at the closest public school, parents pulled their kids out of the Hillslane public school - taking their 10K/year per pupil of the school's funding with them - and enrolled them in the dizzying array of Charter schools that sprouted up throughout their community and throughout the nation. The plan didn't cost taxpayers a nickel extra. Some parents sent their kids to religious schools; Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, there was even a Buddhist Academy. Others choose special technical schools, custom designed for kids who knew they wanted to study subjects like auto mechanics and computer programming. Test scores soared and there was a growing number of kids attending college at younger ages. There were year round schools (these increased dramatically), afternoon schools, and morning schools. But the majority of Charter schools were just like regular high schools and middle schools, except they tended to have smaller class sizes, more personal attention, enthusiastic teachers, advanced equipment, and Mrs. Jones was always impressed with the cleanliness of these schools. The owners of these schools took good care of their property. After all, it belonged to them, not the faceless 'public'...

The same Hillslane principle who had blown her off the year before called her at home telling her of all the changes they were making at Hillslane. Mrs. Jones didn't care. She didn't like the man and she didn't like the school. Her kids were out.

At first the sheer number of choices was a bit overwhelming. The Jones received constant mailings and flyers advertising the different schools. A few of the new schools were actually said to be worse then Hillslane (she didn't think that could be possible)! Some were shut down for tax evasion and other code violations. However, after the first few years the word began to get out where the good schools were. The school their two daughters are in now, Broden school, only started out with about 100 students, but quickly grew and now over 10,000 kids attend five different branches across two states. The other day she had scoffed at a typical press article decrying the founder of Broden school for 'exploiting' the children for profit - the man had made millions off his schools and apparently didn't pay his teachers all that much. But Mrs. Jones didn't give a damn how much money the man made or how little he paid his teachers! Broden educated her kids! They had discipline; Mary and Sarah's teachers kept in touch with her and she always knew how they were doing in each class. Moreover, the school also bought her children laptops, which they kept at school and took with them from grade to grade. As an added bonus Broden provided free breakfast and lunch to her kids, helping the family finances. They also had an excellent guidance counselor who was able to secure scholarships and loans for both Mary and Sarah upon their acceptance into the state university. The counselor had added incentive to do this because the success of Mary and Sarah added to the schools reputation, by both word of mouth (through the ever talkative Mrs. Jones) and via official statistics.

Mrs. Jones was glad that this new discipline in the classroom also made schools much safer. Charter schools could make up their own disciplinary policies, so, of course, they choose policies that worked and that parents approved of. Uniforms were popular with parents and many of the new schools provided them for free. Mrs. Jones was terrified over the stories she heard from the Hillslane high school - fights breaking out in the cafeteria and playground and kids threatening teachers. Parents didn't want gangs and drugs and bullies in school with their kids, so Charter schools simply made sure they weren't. Penalties were harsh - fighting often resulted in an expulsion with no questions asked. There was a no-nonsense attitude in the Charter schools because their owners had a no-nonsense attitude to loosing money. Sure, the owners might loose $10k by expelling a student, but it was better than permitting a raucous environment to develop, which would result in a far higher monetary losses.

The expelled students did have hope, they were generally given a chance at other Charter schools, many of which employed highly effective counselors, therapists, and even psychiatrists, in order to increase parent satisfaction and assist their students as best they could. For kids with extreme behavioral problems and/or struggling with other psychological issues there were specialized Charter schools. These schools ran like boot camps and the teachers acted like drill sergeants. These schools, and even some of the 'unspecialized' Charter schools, often had effective mentoring programs where elder students were paired with incoming students. Some of these schools were boarding schools, and parents who recognized their home situation was hurting their children (substance abuse, physical abuse, gangs, street violence etc..) often sent their kids to these schools.

Shortly after the Charter School Act was passed, Mrs. Jones recalled reading about an incident at one of these boarding schools for 'troubled youths' where a particular unruly kid suffered bruises after he was tackled by staff, handcuffed, and placed in solitary confinement for 24 hours. The press was outraged and politicians and teachers Unions demanded this 'Charter Thuggary' (they always came up with catchy phrases like this) be ended with legislation in order to 'protect the children'. Civil rights groups sued the school (the kid happened to be black), and the kid's parents sued after hearing from lawyers they could win big verdicts. The lawsuits were thrown out, the first was entirely without merit, and the second because it turned out the school had merely been following its own stated policies, which it had described to parents in detail - orally and in writing. In fact, these policies were among the reasons parents liked the school. Despite all the negative attention directed at this school, Mrs. Jones was surprised to find out that enrollment actually soared after this incident!

Interestingly, after the opportunistic parent's lawsuit failed, they still elected to keep their child in the school, but the owner expelled the child! They sued again, now claiming their child was unfairly expelled. This lawsuit failed too. The court ruled that a customer could not demand to be sold a product and that, in any case, there was a clause in the contract of this particular Charter school saying that the owner could expel a student at any time for whatever reason he desired. The owner then broke his media silence by calling a press conference and read a prepared statement: "I expelled that student because I and the parents of the other students in my school don't appreciate being sued for carrying out our stated and effective disciplinary policies that make this one of the top rated schools for troubled youth in the country. To discourage this sort of frivolous activity we had no choice but to expel the student." He left without taking any questions. His school was never sued again.

However, Mrs. Jones knew that the new system was the most beneficial for her nephew Michael. Her sister was so happy with his new school. Suffering from autism, Michael received special treatment at Hillslane, but his primary teacher was shuffled around between three or four different schools and her sister was never able to coordinate her home parenting and therapy with the school. Hillslane didn't communicate with her, and didn't answer her questions or concerns. The director of the Hillslane program always treated her with with aloofness, with a don't-bother-me-with-your-questions-you-wouldn't-understand-the-answers-anyway type attitude. Soon after the Charter School Act was passed a special Charter school for the autistic opened in the neighboring city. They were actually a franchise of a national chain, founded by a group of prominent autistic experts. Although it was a 30 minute ride on a public bus, the school paid for it, and her sister immediately noticed Michael's improvement and soon was receiving tons of information on what she could do at home to supplement Michael's work with the school. She had a personal relationship with Michael's teacher and the principle of the school actually called her to ask her if she had any questions, concerns, or suggestions on what they could do to improve the program. In fact, before the Charter School Act was passed, many states managed to pass, over the objections of the teachers Unions and education groups, laws allowing Charter schools for children with learning or discipline problems. Obviously many of these schools had lower test scores than the public schools, a fact that the education establishment falsely used as an argument against any Charter schools. The press often regurgitated this rhetoric. They didn't mention that the scores of the individual kids in these schools often showed good improvement. Interestingly, a few of highest achieving public schools lost few students to the Charter companies. Charter schools that tried to open in these areas, mainly in wealthy suburban districts, soon folded. Pre-existing private schools gained the most from the new Charter School Act. Before, these parents were forced to pay double for their children's schooling, first in taxes that funded the public schools, and second in the fees that the private schools charged. In effect, the government had been squelching these private schools by offering a 'free' service that directly competed with their business. The fact that there even were private schools was indicative of how bad the 'free' public schools really were. Some of these private schools, especially Catholic schools in inner city neighborhoods, operated on very tight budgets, often less then half of what taxpayers at the neighboring public school were paying in per pupil dollars. Some of these schools offered scholarships, mostly funded by private donations, to poorer students whose parents were unable to pay the private tuition. The Joneses had looked into this option for their daughters, but there was always such a long waiting list. Mrs. Jones never understood how these private schools that spent less then half of what Hillslane spent per pupil, always had such dramatically higher test scores. She wondered why politicians were always promising more and more money for the public schools, when money didn't seem to be a factor at all in their performance. The Unions always contributed to and campaigned for politicians that pledged to give more taxpayer money to the public schools. Since this money obviously wasn't improving the public schools, Mrs. Jones assumed it just went back to the Union members. She frowned at the thought. How was this different from stealing?

In any case, after the Charter School Act passed, many of the pre-existing private schools were inundated with cash and rapidly expanded and enhanced their programs. Many of these private schools formed associations and donated heavily to politicians in favor of the Charter School Act. Mrs. Jones had also read that the number of homeschoolers, a group that had been under constant regulatory attack by the teachers Unions and public school officials, who didn't trust that parents were sufficiently 'qualified' and competent enough to educate their own children, dropped sharply after the Charter School Act. Mrs. Jones stifled a laugh, the Charter School Act opponents must have been quite embarrassed by the fact that homeschoolers consistently won top academic competitions, including the widely watched National Spelling Bee competition.

"Honey, I asked you about Hillslane and Steve Rangart." Mr. Jones' voice snapped her back into reality. She realized she hadn't answered his question.

"Oh sorry, I was just thinking about the old days. I still don't trust that school."

"That was over 10 years ago. Hillslane has really turned around. 90% of their students graduate now.", Mr. Jones smirked and added sarcastically, "And they fired your favorite principle."

That was true. The exodus of students had threatened the school with collapse. The principle was fired and more then half the teachers had to be laid off. She recalled with humor the Union threatening management with a strike if they went ahead with the layoffs and salary cuts. Management called their bluff, the Union knew that another strike would destroy the school and their jobs. In fact, the Union soon collapsed, the members voted to disband it - it's only purpose was to artificially raise their salaries and now, without their monopoly on the public funds, if the Union was successful in that purpose the school would have less to spend in the classroom and would not be competitive with the new Charter schools. The Union had also acted to make it nearly impossible to fire teachers for incompetence, thus they incentivised incompetence, contributing to the failing system. These rules were soon revised and Mrs. Jones noted with some satisfaction that the science teacher whom she complained about years before was one of the first to go. The woman had over 20 years experience and a PhD in Education.

"PhD, hrumph," Mrs. Jones thought disdainfully. A fat lot of good it did her, or any of the teachers at Hillslane. Many of the older teachers had PhDs and Master degrees, the Union demanded management pay them more for each higher 'qualification'. In fact, the Unions made sure the pay scale was based only on these 'qualifications' and, most especially, seniority. Additionally, the Unions demanded that all teachers have education degrees and fulfill endless certification steps and other regulatory requirements. All of this kept the number of teachers in short supply and thus raised the salaries even further of those paying the Union dues. The Union leaders used their dues money for a wide range of political purposes, often without the consent or knowledge of their members. It seemed like every other week there was a different scandal breaking out with Union officials mismanaging or stealing Union funds and political corruption. New teachers were routinely compelled or intimidated into joining the Union. But the most galling part of the setup, in the mind of Mrs. Jones, was that almost half of the teachers who taught at Hillslane sent their kids to private school. With their salaries, they could afford to.

Mrs. Jones remembered the first time she heard about Steve Rangart. Her daughters came home one afternoon from Archers Academy and all they could talk about was Mr. Ranagart and his crazy experiments. And it wasn't all fun and games, she never saw her daughters study so hard for a class. Steve Rangart was a retired researcher who had a long and distinguished career at a major pharmaceutical company. But research was only his third love, his first was teaching and his second was children. The Unions barred him from teaching at Hillslane because he lacked the proper 'qualifications'. After the Charter School Act was passed, he inquired if he could teach a class or two at newly formed Archers Academy. The school jumped at the chance, in fact, now it is common practice for Charter schools to pay various professionals to teach select classes, or speak at their schools. Some do it for free. Steve started off working just three hours a week, teaching an advanced chemistry course, but loved it so much he took an early retirement from his research job and accepted a full time contract at Archers. He soon become director of the school's science department and the Archers science program won many awards for it's high test scores and Archers students always placed near the top at the regional and national science competitions.

Meanwhile, Hillslane had undergone rapid changes. Their dropout rates had fallen from 50% before the Chart School Act to 20%, but the new principle needed something to boost the schools reputation and assure parents that the school's troubled past was behind them. He needed Steve Rangart. However, Rangart was a tough customer, he knew how valuable he would be to Hillslane. He knew what he was worth and he intended Hillslane to pay him what he was worth and not a cent less. In the end, Hillslane nearly broke their budget, but they got Steve Rangart. Just in time too, the scandals started hitting Archers not long after he left and the Joneses withdrew Mary and Sarah, enrolling them in Broden.

In fact, the Rangart story was indicative of the changing way that teachers were paid and hired. The number of college students pursuing education degrees had dropped dramatically. Most students who wanted to be teachers instead majored in the subject they would be teaching and often settled for a minor in education. The only credentials that mattered to the owners of the Charter schools were the credentials that mattered to parents. Teachers stopped going back to graduate school because the Charter school owners generally wouldn't pay them more for their degrees. Teachers were now paid for their results, by the pure merit of their teaching skill. Hardworking teachers, who put in long hours, whose students scored higher on the standardized tests, whose students had fun in their classes, and who interacted well with parents, were paid more then those that were less successful in these tasks. Of course, the more experienced teachers were still generally paid more - but only because their experience made them better at what they did.

The remaining teachers Unions in the country often disparaged the Charter schools for unequal payment of their teachers. For example, Mr. Rangart made nearly ten times the salary of the lowest paid teacher at Hillsdale. But the Charter schools didn't care what the Unions said, they only cared what their customers said, and parents never seemed to care about much besides that their children get the best education possible. In fact, brutal bidding wars between the Charter schools often erupted over the top teachers. Headhunter type organizations were paid handsomely by Charter schools to seek out and recruit top teachers and administrators from across the country. In fact, although teacher salaries, especially the starting salaries, were often lower then they had been under the monopolistic public schools, with hard work and perseverance the top teachers and administrators could often make more than ever would have been possible under the stifling Unions.

The Charter schools often had 'open houses' where they tried to sell their school to prospective parents. Mrs. Jones noticed a new attitude among teachers; and it wasn't just for show. They genuinely seemed happier in their jobs. Whether they worked part time or full time, what they did really mattered and was always noticed. The Charter school owners noticed, the parents noticed, and the kids noticed. If they did a good job they were rewarded, if they didn't do a good job they either took a pay cut or had to find a new job. There were no more freeloaders. Each teacher had individual value. Mrs. Jones thought of a quote Sarah had read her the other day from the 30th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, "Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character."

The teachers were also given more leeway to do their jobs. Many of the Charter school owners came from a business background and they recognized that people immediately faced with a problem often find the best solutions. Administrators were more hands-off then they had been in the past and teachers were often given leeway to craft their own curriculums, lectures, experiments, and interactive games and exercises. Excessive paper work and red-tape hurt productivity, so teachers and Administrators worked to dramatically cut the time wasted on this. Also, the best Charter schools kept the number of Administrators very low in order to maximize spending in the classroom, cut costs, and increase their profits. The remaining Administrators often spent a great deal of time in advertising, public relations, and meeting with parents, so teachers increasingly took on Administrative tasks. They all knew what the other teachers were doing and there was special emphasis on student transition between grades. The system worked from the bottom up, rather then the top down. Washington had no influence at all and, seeing it now had no purpose, Congress abolished the Department of Education. The press howled.

Back when public schools and teachers Unions had their monopoly on the public education tax dollars, the teachers all had specified curriculum and specified textbooks. In fact, teachers used to get into more trouble deviating from the curriculum than if they stuck with it and taught it poorly. Especially upsetting to the old Administrators was when teachers would do something that wasn't 'politically' correct, or discussed topics such as religion or politics with their students. The old Administrators would rather have ten teachers like the incompetent PhD teacher Mrs. Jones complained about, and who was eventually fired from Hillslane, then one teacher who 'caused trouble' and 'stirred up the pot' by being 'controversial'.

Mrs. Jones didn't care for 'political correctness', not because there was anything innately wrong with the concept, but because it stifled innovation, discouraged risk taking, and encouraged apathy and incompetence, all of which acted against the education of her children. But this was all a thing of the past. The other day Mary came home talking about the debates they had in class over such normally polarizing issues as gay marriage and abortion. She was happy and smiling and animated; not because they had broached these issues, but because her teacher actually cared what she thought about them. The new Charter schools cared about what their students thought, because they wanted them to be thinking and creating, not regurgitating. Thinking and creating students were smarter students (higher test scores) and thinking and creating students were happier students (happy customers), both of which increased the profits of the school.

Mrs. Jones had also read some Editorials from some national newspapers bemoaning the 'politicization' of the new Charter Schools. These Editorials claimed that the Charter schools got rid of many of the old textbooks and the new ones, especially the history textbooks, were too 'rightwing'. Mrs. Jones wasn't very political and didn't know what they meant by 'rightwing', but she didn't see what the big deal was in calling Communism 'evil'. In fact, she was surprised to hear that Communism had killed over 100 million people, more than in all wars in history combined. Mrs. Jones was puzzled, she never learned about this when she was in public school. In fact, in glancing through her daughter's history textbook, Mrs. Jones found that many chapters had more then one author, each of whom interpreted the historical happenings very differently. The chapter questions at the end (and the classroom discussions), probed the student to make up his/her own mind between the points of view. It was curious, there was always one point of view that she immediately recognized as similar to her old public school textbooks, but it was the other viewpoints she had never seen before that were most interesting to her. For example, Mrs. Jones had always been taught that FDR and his 'New Deal' saved the country from the Laissez-Faire politicians during the Great Depression and that Lyndon Johnson's 'War on Poverty', 'Great Society' had lifted millions of African Americans out of poverty. But these textbooks included an additional point of view, which stated FDR had prolonged and deepened the Great Depression and that Lyndon Johnson's 'War on Poverty', 'Great Society' impoverished African Americans and led to the dissolution of the black family. Mrs. Jones didn't know what to make of all of this, and didn't have the time to dwell too long on any of it, but it was certainly fascinating. She certainly didn't see how adding other perspectives to a textbook was 'politicizing' anything, as these national newspapermen seemed to think. In fact, now that she thought about it, not having these perspectives in these textbooks was politicizing the textbooks. Better to expose the kids to all of it and let them make up their own minds was the philosophy of Mrs. Jones, the philosophy of most parents and, therefore, the philosophy of the Charter schools.

Of course, there were some parents who complained about the new textbooks, and others who didn't want their kids taught about evolution, and still some others that didn't approve of the health/sex-ed classes. However, these parents were in the minority, and most ended up keeping their kids in the offending school anyway because they knew their kids were otherwise getting a good education. However, a few select parents did pull their kids out of these Charter schools and placed them in schools that were consistent with their own values. No one could ever really complain about what was being taught in school because no one was forced to send their children to any particular school.

But the main difference Mrs. Jones noticed in the new system was that her kids were happier. Charter schools quickly discovered that a happy child was the key to happy parents, which was the key to more students, and therefore the key to higher profits. Some schools, especially in their high schools, let the students rate the effectiveness of their teachers. Classrooms were now alive with richly vibrant and interactive games, often custom designed by the newly endowed teachers. Historical biographies, written by exciting authors who wrote history like it was a story, replaced the droll fact condensed textbooks sanctioned by the Washington bureaucrats and the NEA. There was more emphasis on creative writing, rather then the '5 paragraph formal essay'. Teachers and their classes often made up their own summer reading lists, with most input coming from the students. Kids made their own websites and computer programs. Mrs. Jones thought it was all quite amazing. Her kids now liked to write. Her kids now liked to read. Her kids now liked to learn. They were finally being allowed to think.

Mrs. Jones finally turned to her husband, "Dear, I know it was almost 10 years ago, and your right Hillslane has improved, and I do like Steve Rangart, but Garner's School of Excellence is where Johnny wants to go, and it's where I want him to go. Won't you at least come tomorrow to their open house."

Mr. Jones threw up his hands. "Okay, okay, I'll come and check it out. But no promises." He shook his head. "I just don't like walking through these schools, I feel like they just see us as walking chunks of cash."

Mrs. Jones laughed, "Oh don't be silly, would you rather they not see you at all? You remember what open houses used to be like?"

Mr. Jones shuddered at the memories, "Good point, when your right your right. Ok, we'll go tomorrow night. Will they let us take Johnny with us?"

Mrs. Jones replied, "They'll let us take whoever we want. Remember we're paying customers; they work for us. They know we don't have to choose them."

A fictional tale of a poor inner city black family told through the eyes of Mr. and Mrs. Jones as they discuss life before and after the passage of the 'Charter School Act'. Also included is a detailed discussion and analysis of Charter and Voucher legislation, education quotes, and a contribution from a former Charter school teacher. 20+ News articles with commentary elaborate on the realities of the patterns found in the story.

Breaking the strength of the teachers union politically could breathe new life into the system. I went to a public high school so many years ago, but it was much closer to the fictional story above than to public schools today. The reason was that it was a new school, new teachers were being hired every year and they pulled more than their weight. Competition among the teachers led to competition among the kids. This was '63 and education was pretty good then.

I recall the teacher's union fighting the introduction of charter schools. They knew that many of the charter school proponents were practicing Christians so they aimed their advertisements at them. The result was hilarious.

Leftist believe, with a religious fervor, that people of faith are ignorant, stupid, and superstitious. Thus they concocted an ad warning that if charter school were allowed then witches could open schools to teach witchcraft. Stopping charter school they argued would stop these imaginary witch schools.

No surprise their tactics didn't work with anyone with two or more functioning brain cells.

I don't know about Virginia(where I now live) or California - but I do know that "charter schools" are actually "public" schools in Delaware - there is no "tuition" for any child to attend. The state edumacation department has some control over them, but DSEA (state level NEA) does not. And DSEA fights every new one that makes application.

Thanks for the ping, but I don't want to get into this one. Charter Schools (at least in my area) show NO improvement in test scores or discipline. Breaking the teachers unions will only serve to totally drive the few damn good conservative teachers right out of the profession because liberal school site administrators will consider them open season. I know,because I was HUNTED by such an administrator for five years and the union kept kickin' his A$$ everytime he tried something slick.

Don't get me wrong, the union is every bit as liberal if not more so, but they are contractually bound to defend all teachers from this sort of harassment. Besides over 30% of the union membership is Republican in this most liberal of Florida counties (Miami-Dade).

The secret is to do what we've done here. Engineer a takeover of the system by folks who want the unions to keep their political finances to themselves and where it belongs in helping teachers not getting some RAT elected. Last time, they poured over 5 million into the failed campaign of Bill McBride over the winner Jeb Bush. When the RAT lost, even the uber: Liberals inside the system were so angered by the cronyism and politics as usual that they revolted and a new caucus was born that eventually took over and the Republicans are well represented!

Public education is an oxymoron.

Competition and free enterprise will improve schools. But as long as parents feel they are "entitled" to have their children educated at the expense of others and as long as children are influenced by parents who believe their children have a "right" to a tax supported education, schools, parents, and students will be operating under the "something for nothing" mentality ensuring that education will be taken for granted by the schools, parents and the students rather than recognising it as an investment in their future ability to succeed by using their training to create wealth. When something is free and can be taken for granted, the motivation to achieve and excel will be surpressed. When the parents know they are responsible for providing their childs education, and accept that responsibility, the cost of education will plummet and the results will soar. Allowing parents to determine where the tax dollars allocated to their child are spent is a reasonable first step. My guess is that it will be taxpayers that take the next steps.

Every time I see a major bond issue pass in order to build more bricks and mortar public schools, I wonder what will happen to those buildings before they are fully amortized. In a world where the best teacher of any subject can simultaneously teach every child on earth that speaks the same language for a cost far less than a single bricks and mortar school, I wonder how much longer the parents and the taxpayers are going to accept what we have.

lol - that is interesting and doesn't surprise me. There is an article about homeschoolers posted at the end which is so incredibly biased against homseschoolers. Again, like your saying, treating them like religious freaks, zealots etc..

The reporter writes: "Researchers told the newspaper that the academic world has been reluctant to study home schoolers because a large number of families resist outside contact and prefer not to answer questions."

lol - they 'resist outside contact'. Makes them sound like a cult!

I understand teachers unions help all teachers, but helping teachers isn't the point of education.

I don't think you understand: Unions allow teachers to really teach without worrying about political retaliation or principal's CYA actions falling on teacher necks without cause. The protection afforded by a union is critical to a decent education. Remove union clout and I absolutely guarantee you will drive the good teachers out of the profession....a process already underway as the paperwork and testing requirements exceed capabilities and add to deepening frustration in the ranks.

You want quality teachers? Have a quality union that keeps it's nose out of state and national politics and truly acts in the best interests of both the child and the faculty. That requires reformed thinking not a reformed organizational structure as in a force depletion.

The district my wife works for has a charter school in it. It’s a very good school, long waiting list, very good teachers, nice campus. I don't really have a problem with charters it's the voucher system which is riddled with problems. If people think public schools are such a mess, do something about it, be proactive. Anybody can pour gas on fire, putting it out is another story. Get involved with the public school system and help out, run for the board, make sure you attend board meetings and let your voice be heard. Just don't sit there and complain. The system has bugs, they need to be fixed. Throwing money at it doesn't help, it never gets to where it is needed most. The public school system is very top heavy, like any government organization, start trimming from the top and not the bottom.

And that’s my rant.

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